Black Bird Loss (AAR)

Task: Travel solo to join up with fleet located in low sec.

Conditions:  Using  a Black Bird ECM cruiser travel to and coduct pvp with friendly fleet deployed in low security system.  Travel will be solo and can occur in both low and high security systems.

Standards:  Arrive at fleet location with ship intact and appropriate ECM modules fitted.

Summary:  I was moving to join a fleet in the Todifraun area last night and decided to take my Black Bird as I've had good success moving during times of war and through low security systems with this particular ship.  In addition the fleet was low on ECM support so two birds, one stone.  I opted to travel through low sec along a route I'm familiar with and when I jumped into Eifer a gate camp was in place.


  I noticed a cynabal, a curse, and a BC and held cloak while I checked my options.  I had an MWD equipped so I thought of getting one cycle from it and attempting to burn to the gate and exit the system.  I also checked to see if my default heading was facing any celestials.  Finally I looked at the closest ship and saw only the Cynabal was in range to apply a point.  I opted to try warping to a celestial and assumed I would be able to jam the Cynabal if it had time to get a lock.  I initiated warp, saw the Cynabal locking me, tried to apply a jam, noticed my capacitor went to 0, and then I was unable to leave.  Further, once my ship was destroyed, I was slow to try to warp out my pod and lost it as well.  Fortunately I was in m PVP clone with no implants.

Postives:  

  1. I took the time to weigh my options and didn't try to act quickly out of panic
  2. I didn't utilize TS3 to voice losing my ship in a system that was too far to have bearing on the fleet
  3. Selecting a ship I was comfortable with and could afford losing
  4. Using PVP clone with no implants
 

Negatives:
  1. Utilizing low sec route was more dangerous than using high sec even with the chance of war targets, especially knowing the fleet I was moving towards was seeking to engage a large number of online targets
  2. Underestimating the gate camps ability to rapidly lock and jam a cruiser sized ship
  3. Failing to automatically lock enemy at the gate even if I didn't intend to engage in combat
  4. Underestimating the power of a Curse and it's ability to drain cap; though to be fair this was the first time I have fought a curse
  5. Switching out jamming modules too far from fleet and not having at least one of each faction module fitted
  6. Failing to spam warp as ship was destroyed in order to save pod
  7. Trying to upgrade clone prior to departure but not succeeding in having sufficient clone before moving back into low sec (this went ok as I only lost one clone and upgraded the new clone as soon as I realized my error this morning)

Conclusion:
  I made many poor decisions that resulted in the loss of my ship.  The biggest was choosing to enter low sec too far away from the fleet.  I took a replacement ship back through high sec with no issues.  I made a choice on the gate once I saw the camp, and while I could have done better to ward of being locked my overall lack of PVP experience can explain my slow reactions.  I have a much better realization of what I can and can't do, what I should and shouldn't do, and next time I hope to have a more positive outcome.  The loss of the ship was worth the lesson learned and reinforces the choice to ensure I use PVP clones for any non-cloaky activity in low sec.